21. Battle of Santander - 10th February 1809

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The French VI Corps under Marechal Michel Ney, Duc d'Elchingen has arrived south-east of Santander. A few days of posturing followed, it being clear that the city had had strong earthwork defences constructed over the winter by General Baird's British. A spit of land on the east side of Santander Bay named Somo is held by some Royal Marines landed ashore from the fleet and a number of landed naval guns of heavy calibre. Two artillery redoubts and a line of infantry breastworks have been thrown up on the Somo to secure this critical location since whoever controls this spit of land also controls the entire anchorage.

The French immediately set to work to reduce these positions with 12pdr guns and a force of troops in support.

In the main anchorage off the port lay almost 200 transport vessels. Also present was a Royal Navy squadron comprising the 74-gun ship of the line Monarch, the 38-gun frigate Latona and a handful of lesser vessels. Monarch and Latona are at anchor outside the Somo-enclosed bay observing the French works on the middle of that peninsular and threatening enfilading fire. They are presently keeping their distance however.

Santander & environs:



The French are aware that a very significant force occupies Santander. As well as Sir David Baird's British, the Marques de la Romana is present with his 'Division of the North' as is the Capitán-General of the Asturias, Vincente Acevedo with a large, though oft-defeated, army. It is thought the Allies number almost 45,000 men though the reliability of Acevedo's troops is thought to be doubtful.

After the first few days of February the French noted movement in the harbour at night with noise carried across the still waters and ships lanterns moving. Each dawn it was clear that the number of ships at anchor was reduced and also each day a larger and larger convoy was assembling in the outer roadstead beyond Somo. It seemed the Allies were removing either troops or stores in significant amounts, presumably expecting an attack. When a French engineer officer identified what was to him clearly a horse transport ship, it became clear the British were evacuating their forces.

Ney sent an ultimatum demanding surrender but offering extremely generous terms on the 7th. This was politely rejected by Sir David Baird on the 8th and that day the French moved closer on the south side of the city but still keeping their reorganised corps beyond cannon range. On this day Ney fell sick with pneumonia brought on, no doubt, by the vile weather and perhaps the strain of command. He retired to the Palacio del Mar in Bilbao to recuperate. Marechal Verdier of IV Corps was given command.

On the 9th troop movements within the city defences were observed by Verdier and he issued orders to assault the place at dawn on the 10th.

Unknown to the French, but now revealed in the early morning by a talkative peasant on his way to market, Verdier has just learned that the Allies plan to make an attack of their own today but where the informant doesn't know.

Battlefield:



We are using the Salem's Church map from the Chancellorsville add-on pack so you will need this add-on to play.

The main position of French VI Corps is shown on the map in the south.

All the Allied troops are known to be inside the main defences.

SCENARIO SPECIFIC RULES

1) The Rappahannock River on the map is now the coast with all land east and north of it designated sea and out of bounds. Do not send troops across the pontoon bridge in the city or across the bridges in the far north-west corner.

2) Some of the smaller RN vessels may be offshore to offer fire support. These, if they are present, will be represented by artillery batteries "out at sea". They can be fired upon by French artillery but cannot be otherwise attacked or approached. Driving any of these guns away will represent damaging the ship or making it move away.

3) The red zone represents broken ground and hilly terrain at the foothills of the Cantabrian mountains. This area is probably infested with guerilleros. No units of either side may enter this area (other than routed troops), including travel along the two roads that denote its boundaries, Munich Strasse and Pfaffenhoffen Strasse. These, too, are out of bounds. Players must ensure that when sending couriers, these do not travel across the red zone. Try to place your general avatar in a position where a courier sent from him to the message recipient will not cut across this area.

4) To the south of the city's defences the land is open and flat. There are no movement restrictions here.

5) Inside the city's defences there are many obstacles and buildings, however all troops may still move and fight inside the defences as much as the SoW software allows. There will be the usual pathing and visibility problems in the city streets and for cavalry any wooded areas will present the usual melee problems.

6) West of the city defences and north of the red zone the terrain is extremely broken and rough with many steep slopes, deep ravines and streams and forests. The following rules must be observed:

6a) No cavalry at all is permitted to move anywhere west of the city defences.

6b) No formed artillery in full batteries is allowed anywhere west of the city defences. The only artillery units allowed into this area are the 2-gun "detachments" that are marked as such in your OOBs and created specifically for this battle. This represents some artillery being able to deploy and move in this terrain in small sections while disallowing the full deployment of bigger batteries. In most cases your OOB for each artillery battery has a main section of 4 to 6 guns and a 2-gun "detachment". The main section of each battery may not move west of the city defences at all. If a battery does not have a detachment section then none of it's guns may go west of the city defences. This applies to the artillery attached to the cavalry divisions which will remain with its parent division outside this area.

6c) The main coast road is marked in sandy-brown. For the most part this is the Dingelfing Strasse. However there is a fork in the coast road that also enters the city via Geberskirchen. There is also a secondary road that serves a few fishing villages down by the coast itself, this is longer but also of good surface. All units designated as baggage must remain on one of these roads at all times. This includes divisional ammunition wagons. Please TC these and ensure they do not wander off the roads unless failed morale forces them too.

KS HITS RULES

1) No moving of commander avatars beyond 250 yards of your own troops.

2) No advancing in square. Squares can move but to withdraw only.

3) Kevin has very kindly edited many of our ACW maps to reduce the density of woodland for Nap games. This deforestation however does not change the ground textures. On the battle map therefore please pay special attention to the terrain your troops are in. Ignore the brown "fallen leaves" ground texture that usually denotes woods - woodland is only present and represented by trees, so bear this important change in mind.

Orders of battle for each side are in the private forums.

Edited first post. Posts in the private forums to come soon.

I have not set a Doodle up yet as its problematical I can get the battle ready for this weekend - I am moving house Monday so time is limited for both scenario creation and online playing. We shall probably fight this next weekend and that gives us time to recruit players.

And hope its rainy. I can't sit inside when its nice out lol

PC is fixed what i thought was a major problem turned out to be a fan and bad sensors

Look forward to this one Martin.

The battle won't be until next weekend at the earliest and might have to be the weekend after that because I'm moving house on Monday and don't know when I'll get internet there - it may not be until Friday. However for now, please start recruiting players, this will be another big game and will certainly need around 8 a side.

Sounds exciting and good luck with the move!

Doodle Poll

Please sign up! Lots of bums on seats needed for this one.

Anglo-Spanish can use 8 players but can get by with 7.
French can use 10 players but can get by with 7.

I will take a complex non-combat Anglo-Spanish role as I wouldn't want to inflict what's needed for it on anyone else!

Kevin has very kindly edited many of our ACW maps to reduce the density of woodland for Nap games. This deforestation however does not change the ground textures. On the battle map therefore please pay special attention to the terrain your troops are in. Ignore the brown "fallen leaves" ground texture that usually denotes woods - woodland is only present and represented by trees, so bear this important change in mind.

Finally - important note. This game will use a map from the Chancellorsville add-on and you must have this pack installed in order to play.

Great response from the Anglo-Spanish team, we pretty much have all their needed players!

Friday the 15th is the current date of choice. I've offered a late Eu start time so people in the States can be home from work/school/prison/etc.

Not one Frenchman yet - so this looks like it'll be a bit of a walkover!

I'll put together a scenario in case we don't have the minimum number of players for this battle. I'll make for 3v3 or co-op if we don't have 6 players.

Thanks Kevin. I hate nothing more than having a big game planned and then not enough people show.

Santader will be the graveyard of the French VI Corps!

Everyone, please use the doodle sign up. If anyone can put the word out on the GCM site that would be much appreciated as usual.

I am going to set Saturday 16th May at 20:30 BST (21:30 CET, 15:30 EST) for the game. The attached doodle shows we have 12 who can make it as long as Pepe, Mike and Roland who marked "if need be" can in fact play. This gives us 6 a side and we can do it with this few players.

Teams are:

France: Knight (C-in-C), Matt (*), Mark/Napoleon (*), Mark/Little Mac, Roland, David/MidgetManifesto

Allies: Ron, Pepe (*), Kevin, Mike/Grog, Morsey, Digby (*)

(*) Denotes that player has asked for and been given a role. The Allies need a C-in-C!



If 2 to 3 GCM guys wander across as well, we'll have plenty.

It'll be weird to not be in command.....

It sucks to be stuck down there among the blue collar workers at General de Division level.

I believe I can make it. I'll see what I can do for Saturday!

-Neal

Thanks Neal. Please fill in the Doodle. And make sure you have the latest mods. Links are all in the first post of the usual thread.

I am setting out to prove I can handle a division as well as any man!

At some point all leaders had to be followers except in yours Mr Bonaparte!

you forget the siege of Toulon, my friend... he was nothing but an artillery man there...

I was talking virtual world not real life. How can you confuse the two!?

oh - I thought I would just act like some others for a change

I believe I can make it. I'll see what I can do for Saturday!

-Neal

Neal - you've filled in the Doodle poll to say you can't make Saturday - is this correct? You've said yes to the earliest Sunday slot though.

Sorry I dropped, gentlemen. I hit the "C" key to reply to a courier message and I crashed instantly. Isn't this a known issue from way back in the early days?

Anyway, I hope it was an excellent battle. Quite disappointed I did not get to attack anything. :-(